The silent revolution in media and advertising

1. A structural decline in revenues for “traditional” media.

Linear television, print media, and cinema have been experiencing a sustained erosion of advertising revenue for more than a decade. This is not a temporary blip, but a genuine structural transformation.

• United States: The number of pay TV subscribers (cable, satellite) has been declining for nine consecutive years. According to S&P Global, this trend will continue, with several million fewer households each year, leading to a mechanical contraction of the associated advertising market.

• World: Caretta Research estimates that broadcast television and pay TV will lose $42 billion in revenue between 2024 and 2029. This is one of the fastest declines ever recorded in the history of audiovisual media.

• Australia: Advertising revenues for free-to-air television fell by 8.1% in 2024, representing a loss of more than $250 million in a single year. This decline has been partially offset by the rise of BVoD platforms, but it reveals a lasting shift in investment.

For more than a decade, the print media has been experiencing a structural erosion of its advertising revenues, which cannot be offset by digital growth alone.

• In France, advertising revenue for the press declined by an average of 5.4% per year between 2012 and 2022. According to BUMP (S1-2025), total press revenue (print + digital) stands at €623 million, down 7.7% from the previous year. Projections from the Ministry of Culture (DGMIC/ARCOM) estimate that the press could lose a third of its advertising value by 2030 if current trends continue.

• In Europe, the situation is no better. In Germany, advertising revenues for print media fell from €6.9 billion in 2010 to €3.85 billion in 2016, a drop of nearly 45% in six years.

• Globally, WARC Media forecasts a 33% decline in advertising spending in the press (print + digital) between 2019 and 2025.

This rapid deterioration is linked to a dual dynamic:

• The decline in print circulation and traditional readership, leading to a loss of appeal for advertisers.

• The shift of investment towards digital (search, social media, online video), where the press struggles to compete with the targeting power and critical mass of GAFAM platforms.

👉 In short: the press, long a pillar of advertising and guarantor of trust with its readers, is seeing its advertising revenues collapse structurally. Publishers are trying to reinvent themselves with paywalls, digital subscriptions, and sponsored content, but profitability remains fragile and digital revenues are not compensating for the decline in print. The conclusion is clear: the historical power of the media is no longer enough to guarantee sustainable revenues. Groups must find new sources of value to offset this structural decline.

Long considered a premium medium for advertising—captive, immersive, emotional—cinema is going through a period of turbulence that is undermining its revenues.

• Declining attendance: in France, the number of admissions fell from 200 million in 2019 to 181 million in 2023 (CNC), a decline of nearly 10% in four years. In several European markets, post-COVID recovery remains below pre-pandemic levels.

• Advertising revenues under pressure: according to Kantar, cinema advertising revenues in France fell by nearly 20% between 2019 and 2022. The recovery is partial, but unstable attendance figures are making advertisers cautious.

• Platform competition: Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Disney+, and others are not only capturing viewers' screen time, but also a growing share of advertising budgets through their AVoD offerings and partnerships.

• Increased costs for operators: energy, technological upgrades (IMAX, 4DX, LED screens), multiplex maintenance... all of these expenses weigh heavily on profitability.

Faced with these challenges, players are consolidating. The latest example: in 2025, Canal+ began its takeover of the UGC network, with an initial stake of 34% that could evolve into a complete takeover by 2028. UGC, an iconic operator (55 multiplexes in France and Belgium), represents a strategic asset for Canal+, which is seeking to control the entire value chain—from production to distribution, including theater operations.

👉 This acquisition illustrates a dual trend: on the one hand, the structural fragility of the cinema advertising model, and on the other, the desire of large groups to protect themselves by vertically integrating the industry. Cinema retains a unique emotional appeal, but its advertising revenues remain volatile, concentrated on a few blockbusters, and exposed to competition from digital media.

2. Media efforts to reinvent themselves

Faced with structural erosion of their revenues, major media groups are deploying multiple strategies to stem the loss of audiences and restore their appeal to advertisers.

• France/Europe: Last year, TF1 successfully launched its free TF1+ platform, enhanced with premium content, catch-up features, and personalized recommendations. The ambition is clear: to move closer to the standards set by Netflix and Disney+, while capitalizing on video advertising. M6+ and France.tv are following the same logic, with modernized interfaces and enriched catalogs, to retain an audience that now consumes content massively on demand.

• Australia: the shift is already visible in the figures. While linear television lost more than 8% of its advertising revenue in 2024, BVoD jumped 12.7% to $441 million. Advertisers favor these hybrid platforms, which are perceived as both high-quality (due to their proximity to traditional channels) and capable of offering digital targeting.

• United Kingdom/Germany: The BBC with iPlayer, ITV with ITVX, and ZDF and ProSiebenSat.1 via Joyn are investing heavily in AVoD (free with advertising) offerings and hybrid models combining subscription and advertising. These services are positioning themselves as credible local alternatives to the American giants, with a dual promise: to maintain cultural ties with the national audience and to capture advertising budgets that are migrating to digital.

• United States: Traditional networks (NBC, CBS, Disney via Hulu/Disney+) are increasing their AVoD offerings to compensate for the mass exodus of cable subscribers. These platforms enable them to maintain their advertising base while diversifying their revenue streams through low-cost subscriptions. Disney+, for example, is actively promoting its “ad-supported” offering in the United States and Europe, seeing premium digital advertising as a major growth driver.

• Consolidation as a strategic response: beyond digital transformation, media groups are seeking to strengthen themselves through mergers and acquisitions. Italy's Mediaset acquired Germany's ProSiebenSat.1 to create a European champion capable of competing with global platforms. RTL acquired Comcast's Sky operations in the DACH region to expand its footprint, while the TF1/M6 merger, which was temporarily blocked, remains a regularly discussed scenario in the face of market pressure. And as Philippe Bailly of NPA Conseil, pointed out, Canal+'s acquisition of MultiChoice could bring the group's total number of subscribers to more than 65 million in sub-Saharan Africa and the countries where its subsidiaries operate alone. The deal comes at a time when MultiChoice has around 21.7 million subscribers and Canal+ already has 26.4 million in more than 50 countries—this strategic alliance is a major lever for achieving its international objectives.

👉 These efforts reflect a clear desire to retain fragmented audiences, diversify revenue streams, and gain critical mass in the face of global platforms. But one issue remains unresolved: consumer trust. New platforms improve the content experience and distribution, and mergers create stronger champions, but none of these strategies address the credibility deficit in advertising. As long as less than one in two consumers say they trust advertising, the effectiveness of campaigns will remain limited, regardless of how powerful the players are.

3. Consumer mistrust of advertising

Despite a slight uptick in confidence in 2024, advertising continues to be viewed with mistrust and skepticism. The latest edition of the Advertising Association's Trust Tracker reveals that in the UK, only 39% of people trust advertising, up from 36% the previous year. This average masks a deep generational divide: 18-34 year olds are nearly three times more likely to trust advertising than those over 55, and 51% of young people say they trust online advertising, compared to only 14% of seniors. Television and cinema remain the most trusted advertising media (43% of respondents).

In France, mistrust is even more pronounced. According to a Viavoice study published in 2024 for the Club des Annonceurs, 55% of French people have a negative image of advertising, compared to 39% who have a positive one. Young people (aged 18-24) are more conciliatory (62% positive opinions), but perceptions deteriorate significantly with age.

This mistrust translates into a marked preference for peer recommendations. A Nielsen poll cited by Business News Daily shows that 92% of consumers trust recommendations from friends and family, while less than half consider television, magazine, or newspaper advertisements to be credible. Online customer reviews also enjoy a high level of credibility: 70% of those surveyed say they trust them. However, trust in reviews is not unshakeable: BrightLocal's Local Consumer Review Survey 2025 report highlights that only 42% of consumers place as much credit in online reviews as they do in recommendations from friends and family, down from 79% in 2020.

These figures highlight a “trust gap”: despite creative efforts, less than one in two consumers still believes advertising messages. This mistrust fuels the search for alternatives that combine media power and authenticity. BuyTryShare fits perfectly into this logic: by integrating verified customer reviews (compliant with ISO 20488/NF522 standards and validated by the ARPP) into TV, cinema, and press ads, the initiative combines the reach and creativity of traditional media with the credibility of consumer evidence. The aim is to restore meaning and value to advertising while offering advertising agencies a new source of revenue, in a context where trust is becoming a key performance criterion.

4. Rebuilding trust, rebuilding value: why BuyTryShare is vital for the changing media landscape

Advertising is going through a period of turbulence. Linear television audiences are falling, press revenues are eroding year after year, cinema attendance remains unstable, and advertisers are more cautious than ever. At the same time, consumer confidence in advertising has never been so fragile: less than one in two people consider the messages they receive to be credible.

It is precisely this divide that BuyTryShare was designed to address.

• Its purpose: to restore credibility to advertising and offer advertising sales houses new growth drivers.

• How: by injecting verified consumer reviews (ISO 20488/NF522, ARPP validation) into advertisements (TV, cinema, press) in an ultra-short and impactful format (5 seconds with QR code).

• The results: the first PoCs are already showing measurable gains: +25% attention and +15% incremental sales in categories such as agri-food.

But BuyTryShare is more than just a creative innovation. It is a systemic response to a critical moment for the media. As Thomas Jamet (founder of the 7Kids agency, part of the Labelium group) points out, the media is “undergoing change”: 15-34 year olds spend half as much time watching television as they did ten years ago, usage is shifting towards streaming and mobile, and the advertising value of traditional inventories is automatically eroding.

In this context:

• Advertisers are demanding greater ROI and tangible proof of advertising effectiveness.

• Advertising sales houses must find new business models to compensate for the structural decline in their revenues.

• Consumers are demanding greater transparency and credibility in the messages they receive.

BuyTryShare positions itself as the European solution to this triple challenge. By combining the emotional and creative power of traditional media with authentic consumer proof, it transforms advertising into a vehicle for trust and restores a differentiating value to Ad Sales Houses' inventories.

In concrete terms, BuyTryShare allows you to:

• advertisers to secure their investments through more credible and effective campaigns,

• media outlets to increase monetization of their advertising space with a unique offering that stands out from GAFAM,

• consumers to reconnect with trustworthy advertising messages based on the real experiences of other customers.

🚀 BuyTryShare embodies a credible and sustainable European alternative: a lever to rebuild trust and recreate value at a time when the media needs it most.